There is no question that the explosive growth of the Internet in recent years has changed classic business and economic models. One area in which this change has been noteworthy is in the auctioning and fixed price sale of both new and used listings or products (goods and/or services) via the Internet. Participants may provide incremental bids to purchase the product and, upon a bid being successful, the purchaser then pays the amount he or she bid to claim title to the product. Although the products offered for sale are usually goods, it is to be appreciated that the bidding procedure may apply equally to services.
A user listing a product on a network-based commerce facility must select a category or, optionally, more than one category in which the product is to be listed. Success in selling the product may be highly dependent upon the category or categories chosen by the user. However, due to the large number of listings up for auction and/or sale on most network-based commerce facilities, the user is typically bombarded with a vast number of categories in which a product may be listed. Many of the categories may however not be relevant.